Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2024: David Jonsson in Alien Romulus

David Jonsson did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Andy in Alien Romulus. 

Alien Romulus is the absurdly derivative, sometimes quite stupid but better than some Alien sequels sequel that follows a group of miners trying to steal from a wrecked company ship, naturally complications ensue. 

David Jonsson, the charming atypical romantic lead from Rye Lane, was probably the one big surprise coming into this film, as I very much expected the film to get a lot of generic dead meat underdeveloped characters who are poorly acted for the most part. Which we do get particularly via the BritUSH cousins, where the line “there’s sum thin in the wau er” just won’t leave my brain as much I’d love it to do so. Jonsson as Andy, the modified android companion of the main character Rain (Cailee Spaeny) is the bright spot of the film in multiple ways. One because he actually gives a good performance rather than seemingly playing within the generic type of the horror genre in the worst way possible as is the case with some of his co-stars. Jonsson though isn’t playing to be just part of a horror film, a possibly flimsy sequel theoretically, he wants to genuinely bring to life a character. Something we get from his very first scene where he meets up with Rain and we see that Andy’s main method acting as a synth is telling a series of dad jokes. Jonsson’s approach already does a great deal as he finds a very exact way to play Andy between human and robot, that interestingly makes him all the more human. Jonsson’s delivery and manner has not quite stiltedness but rather an exactness about it that directs his words to be precise as a machine would be. What’s remarkable though is as much as Jonsson wears the artifice as he speaks and walks as a slightly broken droid, there is a sincerity about the emotions of his performances in and around that artifice that creates a reliable sweetness to him. It is quite the trick to pull off because he is the android, but he’s an android that feels wholly human at the same time. Creating within that specified delivery an earnest chemistry with Spaeny with an innate warmth about his performance. 

The actual plot begins with Rain’s old mining “pals?” recruiting her to steal cryo chambers in order to escape their dismal mining colony, the key to the plan being Andy as his ability to access the ship, where naturally at least one of the members acts poorly, I mean acts like a jerk to Andy, and Jonsson’s whole shy expression of just the android who doesn’t want to raise any fuss or any conflict. He’s moving while again doing so in a way that presents it both as very android and human. Jonsson’s particularly great in the moment where he speaks to his prime detective which is to do whatever is best for Rain. His delivery of this is great because there is a direct specificity in the way he says that is befitting much more a machine yet that is naturally intertwined with such warmth in the little smile he still gives behind it, that again makes Andy the android he is, but the android who has so much humanity within that. He is genuinely endearing and one of the few characters who actually seems like they have any life outside of the realm of the film, in large part due to the strength of Jonsson’s performance. And this goes beyond even his likability as he also sells very much even the nature of the android, as when there is a moment where Andy needs to be rebooted to access part of the ship by taking in a new chip that will upgrade him, Jonsson’s physical performance that fully becomes machine through the reboot process could be very silly. Jonsson’s work though is pitch perfect, fully doing the machine in the extreme stiffness but in a way that never feels too much or too silly which could have easily been the case with a lesser actor. 

After the chip upgrade Jonsson’s performance continues to impress because he manages to completely switch from the shy but very likeable synth just trying to help in his meek way, to a coldly efficient machine. Jonsson’s switch on the dime is what makes it particularly remarkable because there is no sell needed, he suddenly has the same type of cold detachment but also cold command that we saw in Michael Fassbender’s portrayal of David in Prometheus. Jonsson leaning into the inhumanity more so and having this sort of analytic manner about himself in the way he observes the humans, no longer as people he likes or are scared of, but rather specimens and tools he may need to utilize. There’s one moment I especially love in Jonsson’s performance where he speaks to Rain with such confidence now stating how he will do right by her and no longer be the victim. I love it because all of those words are seemingly things that might be a good thing as he theoretically would be comforting her in a very dangerous situation, however in the new nature of Andy, Jonsson’s words are so perfectly off-putting because the hybrid of life and android are gone, it is just the android now who does whatever is needed for the company rather than Rain. And while I’ll say I didn’t feel very much in the deaths and impalements of most of the crew here, that loss of humanity in Andy was the one element that I found genuinely sad. So when after much Alien related hijinks occurs and Rain gets Andy’s old chip back in, it was something honestly impactful thanks to Jonsson’s work. That is to the point when he comes back with his dad jokes again, Jonsson’s wonderful in just bringing back that specific earnest quality that made Andy so endearing to begin with. I’ll even give him extra credit for selling the dumbest line in the entire film, which is when he takes action by saving Rain and unfortunately having to say “Get away from her you bitch”, which makes no sense character wise whatsoever. Having said that, Jonsson still manages to speak it within character in terms of his own delivery with the stammer on bitch, and while it doesn’t salvage the line itself, I don’t think anyone could, I think Jonsson’s delivered as well as one honestly could. Jonsson elevates this entire film through the conviction of his performance, getting the most out of the character of Andy and his unique journey and ironically finding the vast majority of any real humanity and emotion throughout the entirety of the film.